Mario Draghi resigns as Prime Minister of Italy after losing the support of the 5 Star Movement

His decision comes after the M5S decided this morning not to vote on a confidence motion in the Senatedistancing himself from the rest of the partners in the national unity coalition that Draghi has chaired since February 2021.

“I want to announce that this afternoon I will present my resignation to the President of the Republic. Today’s vote in Parliament is a very significant event from the political point of view,” Draghi told the Council of Ministers meeting in Rome.

And he added: “The majority of national unity that has supported this Government since its creation no longer exists and the confidence pact that based the Government’s action has ended.”

[Las primas de riesgo se disparan y el euro pierde la paridad con el dólar por la crisis de gobierno en Italia]

Draghi had already warned that he would not govern without the M5Sdespite the fact that his departure from the coalition did not prevent his continuity, since he continued to have the support of a comfortable parliamentary majority.

The last stumbling block between Draghi and the leader of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte, precisely his predecessor in office, has been a decree with aid against inflation that the “anti-caste” party sees as “insufficient” and that it criticizes for including measures such as the financing of a garbage incinerator for the city of Rome.

But before that they had had notorious disagreements, given the misgivings of the M5S to continue arming the Ukrainian resistance.

“In these days, on my part, there has been the maximum commitment to follow a common path, even trying to understand the demands that the political forces have made of me. As evidenced by the debate and the vote today in Parliament, that effort has been insufficient” lamented the economist.

Draghi took over the Executive in February 2021 to deal with the pandemic crisis, after the fall of Conte, and he did so with a coalition that included all the parties except Giorgia Meloni’s ultra Brothers of Italy.

“In my investiture speech in Parliament I have always said that this government should continue only if it had a clear perspective of being able to implement the government program that all the political forces had voted for,” he explained.

“This unit has been fundamental to face the challenges of these months. These conditions no longer exist, “Draghi finished before his ministers, whom he thanked and encouraged to be” proud “of the objectives achieved in” such a difficult time “.

When Draghi resigns before Mattarella, he will be the one who decides the steps to follow, which can range from commissioning someone else to govern or even calling an early election and not waiting for the term of office to end in March 2023, as more and more parties are demanding. politicians.

The most interested in general elections is Meloni, who as the only opposition to Draghi is the one that is growing the most in the polls and is already placed as the first force in the country.